March 31, 2009

A certain little girl will be turning three this weekend, so I made a little something for her.

It's pretty much all hand sewn because I tend to understand better what I'm doing when it's my own fingers rather than the machine manipulating the needle and thread. I did sew the lining and outside together by machine though before turning them right side out.

The outside and inside are quilting cotton prints; the turquoise polka-dot fabric and snaps is the bottom and leg holes of a never-worn onesie that suggested the bag shape to me. The little bow and rickrack are upcycled from a little pair of pants.

March 30, 2009

We had a wonderful weekend in D.C. and I was inspired by the warm weather there (and all those beautiful blooming trees!) to think about Lara's spring clothes. Out that, a little skirt made of gathered strips of old jersey clothes. I still have to put an elastic in the waistband, but when I showed it to her she instantly put it on over her pants and demanded to wear it out even though it kept slipping down to her knees and threatening to trip her.

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We were at a friend's house, and Lara looked out the window and yelled, "Mommy, I want to go in the spider web!" A little confused, I looked out also... "Oh, honey, that's called a hammock!"

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One morning last week Lara announced "I don't want to go to school today, Mommy." "Really? Why not?" "Because I don't want to have so much fun."

March 25, 2009

We put together a new Expedit bookshelf for Lara's (and new baby's!) room today:

And, oh my gosh, I cannot even begin to talk about how revolutionary this new shelf is. Seriously. Every toy is up off the floor, and has a new place to go! I'm in organizational heaven. Plus, the old shelves that were in this space are now in the closet, being far more useful. I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like before, but just picture a small over-crowded bookcase with no rhyme or reason to it.

Plus Misha and I had a blast putting this thing together, occasioned mostly by my totally bone-headed - and quite out of character - initial error, which resulted in us having to redrill a few Ikea-made holes to get broken dowel pieces out of them. Also we discovered that we need a mallet, since we ended up doing some wacky improvisational things with some stacking blocks and a hammer. Only 270 shopping days till Hannukah!

March 19, 2009

When I was in middle school, I had this toy that was called "Fashion Plates" - which is quite literally what it was. There were plastic tiles with raised outlines of tops, bottoms, and shoes; you arranged them into a look and then used a crayon to make a rubbing of the outfit and then color it in. (Wow, the internet has everything! Check it out here.) I still remember when I learned that the name of this toy was a play on words on the more standard meaning of the phrase "fashion plate" - it's one of the several strong memories I have of the sensation of language revealing itself to me. Words are fun... um, where was I? Oh yeah, Lara is really cute in her little clothes. I feel like I'm now getting to live out that game in real life, although that window is quickly closing as she is starting to dress herself. Much of this outfit, for instance was put together by the tiny fashionista:

This is a new joke called "I'm asleep, you have to be very quiet." The correct response is, "Oh, no, Lara fell asleep... I better not tickle her!"

In this picture, she is "asleep" in the restaurant we went to yesterday. She has become hilariously self-assured and totally comfortable with the waitstaff in restaurants, as if we are constantly eating out. Yesterday, as soon as the waitress came to the table Lara piped up: "Can I have a menu please, Mister Waitress? Can I please have a glass of water and a booster?" She then picked a hamburger from the kids' menu and ordered it herself. The waitress brought her water and some table bread, at which point Lara looked confusedly at the bread, then with a sort of pitying dismissal turned to the waitress, "Can I have a hamburger please?" As in, "what is this? did you fail to hear my order?" We were cracking up.

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I just got an amazing email from Debbie, who used my Doll Furniture Instructions (free on the right sidebar) to create a set of amazing pieces for Barbie. So totally fabulous!

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This may be extremely declasse of me, but whatever. I am starting to prepare the apartment for the future new family member, and this basically means clearing closet space and reusing/repurposing as much as possible. Yesterday I picked up a used stroller from a Craig's List post - super awesome. Today, I just listed a whole bunch of clothes from my office work life on eBay (mostly Banana). If you're looking for a blazer or pants or something, my page of listings is here.

Now Lara and I are off to Washington, D.C. for the weekend to visit my mom - Yay! We're thinking the zoo and the Natural History Smithsonian museum are good places for a three year old. Any other suggestions?

March 11, 2009

Lara tried to hug this little tree, but it was a little too prickly. I think it might have gotten some petties instead.

With my grandparents in pleasant Pleasanton. The weather was really beautiful! It took Lara only a day to figure out my grandma's MO. "Where's Baba?" she asked on our way to see them the second day we were there, and then answered herself, "She's at Baba and Deda's house. In the kitchen." Indeed. I think over this past week I've achieved whatever weight gain I needed to amass for this pregnancy!

With my dad. They are actually posing, since I missed the real moment that this happened. I love that Lara is now into the camera enough to recreate the moment, thus already possessing the skills needed to succeed on a reality TV show.

She was really in sync with my dad. How awesome is this in-step running shot?

Playing with Emily and Amy (thanks for letting us stay at your house!). Wherever we were, Lara spent her time trying to herd everyone together. Do your kids love it when everyone is nearby? If anyone left the room, they instantly got a "Please come back!" command from the tiny tyrant.

Having usurped Liza's bed, Lara pretends to sleep. Liza probably got the most interaction from Lara this week. "What are you doing Liza? Where are you going? Come with me, Liza! Come watch me! Let's play peekaboo with your ears. I like your furry ears and your very furry feet. Mommy, it's almost wake-up time for Liza so I can feed her breakfast in her bowl!" Of course, my heart instantly melted, and I decided we need to get a dog... it's a good thing they aren't allowed in this building, because I'm pretty sure that needs to be a more rational decision than just "Aww, Lara's so cute."

March 3, 2009

I dried some of these roses. In my experiences, roses are the best flowers for DIY drying - all I do is hang a bunch upside down and wait for them to turn crisp. They are remarkably hardy, especially if left alone, and they keep much more of their color than other flowers I've tried to do this with. Are there other varieties you've had luck drying?

Incidentally, that lovely plate was a present to myself from the sale area of Anthropologie. I recently went back and saw that they have a whole line of tableware in this pattern...

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Tomorrow, we are off on a mini-break to lovely San Francisco. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and I'll see you at the end of next week!